Effective Churches…

December 10, 2008

I follow my e-friend Will Humes on twitter, and I read his blog, “One Thing I Know,” from time to time. Will is a United Methodist pastor and is in tune with lots of good things going on in the church.

Will posted today about a blog entry by Will Williman, a Methodist Bishop and someone who has been writing about church life for quite some time. Williman and others in the Southeastern Jurisdiction of the UMC came up with a list of characteristics of “Effective Congregations:”

EFFECTIVE CONGREGATIONS:

1. Love their particularly community. Their pastors have found a way not only to love their congregations but also their neighborhood. Effective pastors help their congregations move beyond love of themselves, turning their congregations outward.
2. Rise above mere contentment with things as they are and do what is necessary to expect and welcome change, disruption, and movement, similar to that of the Risen Christ.
3. Find a way to welcome the stranger and to practice radical hospitality in the name of Jesus Christ. They find a way to be as interested in those who have yet to join the church as those already in the church.
4. Have a clear sense of their primary purpose and keep focused on their primary God-given missions.
5. Enable lay leaders to lead, not just manage. Lay leadership that feels a strong sense of responsibility for the future of their congregation.
6. All have a strong, change oriented, gifted pastor.
7. Make growth a priority and figure out how to grow.
8. Keep focused upon Jesus Christ as the originator of, and the purpose for the church (rather than church as just another human oriented institution).

Will’s take is more simple:

As far as these things go, it is a fine list.  But I have read over 50 books on church growth, renewal and effectiveness.  I have attended more seminars on the same subjects than I care to remember, and over the past 20 years or so, I have grown tired of all the emphasis on these things.

For me there are only two marks of an effective church, which can be phrased as questions.  First, does the church provide an opportunities to worship God and connect with the divine?  Second, is the church making disciples for Jesus Christ?  Everything else flows out of these two things.  At least that’s how I see things.

These things have me thinking about what it means to talk about a church as “effective.” I gather that depends on what you think church is for, because that ecclesiology will be a major factor in whether you judge a church to be effective.

Willimon is writing as a Bishop who is concerned not just with individual church functioning but also pastoral/congregation dynamics and such. I get why he wants churches to love their communities, for that is what is essential for a church to move from just doing church to being church in the neighborhood, from maintaining an inward focus to having a heart for outward presence (which is what I take the term “missional” to mean).

Humes’ summary isn’t all that off, either. Connect with God; Grow in discipleship.

Has me pondering “effective” church…

Posted in Faith